– [misc] Eastern ethnic group got a new nameset (Czech-like sounding). This nameset will be put in to courtier random name generator when Eastern ethnic group is selected (Ethnic Customization option available upon game start).

September version introduced ethnic groups. A purely cosmetic feature which allows you to choose the feel of the names for your courtiers and other imperial officials. All namesets have been divided into 3 ethnic groups. Western group which holds names typical for Western Europe and North America, Eastern group which holds names typical for Eastern Europe and Oriental group which holds names typical to Asia. Also, if you want all of them at once you can use Mixed group. It allows you to adjust the feel of the game and it has no impact on the gameplay. In addition there are traditional small improvements, fixes, etc.

– [feature] Ethnic customization button added to the new game screen which holds cosmetic adjustments options.
– [feature] Ethnic groups introduced (Ethnic customization button). Now you can select Western, Eastern or Oriental ethnic group for your empire which determine the names for all characters. You can also select Mixed ethnic group which will use all those at once.

– [misc] Better names for characters (name generator prefers shorter first name + last name combinations so those fit better and a bigger font can be used in most cases).

– [balance] Different starting stats based on courtier’s faction (Economists tend te be less corrupted, Cancellists more loyal, Traditionalists more competent; Warlords and Genetechnologists no changes). It should add a bit of immersion (like Traditionalists who are the descendants of the old aristocracy being more apt to rule but not so loyal while Cancellists being bureaucrats who want no trouble and therefore being more loyal). It also allows you to predict slightly what to expect when you look at the faction affiliation of a courtier.

– [interface] Additional accessories for males (goggles, monocles).

– [fix] Emperor’s genetic makeup list in the chancellor screen not matching the genetic picks (it was a cosmetic problem only since the perks were accounted properly, so this fix just repairs the list of perks display).
– [fix] Small fixes.

Today Automobile Tycoon leaves Early Access with the release of the final version 1.00. All bugs and issues reported during the EA have been fixed and the game is ready to be played by regular players now. I would like to thank all players who participated in the EA for their reports and comments and for trying the game of course.

The game is getting a standard post release support, like my other games, for the upcoming years. It means especially critical bug fixes.

– [misc] Polish and cleanup preparing for the final release (upgraded engine, removed remaining testers notices and options, minor alterations of the interface, final testing)

August version is all about interface. Numerous small changes aimed to make it more consistent, intuitive and easier to use. There is also a new “find planet” option on the list of planets screen, useful if you remember only the planet name and wish to find it quickly.

– [misc] default names for all fleets (a small thing but it’s more consistent for all fleets to have a default name upon game start).

– [interface] Reports tabs remember their position (requested by players).
– [interface] Find planet by name input box on list planets screen.
– [interface] New input text boxes (rename planet, rename fleet, save filename, etc). More intuitive and consistent with the one you have in your OS.
– [interface] Mouse cursor changes when hovering over a hyperlink. More intuitive and consistent with the one you have in your OS.

I would like to announce a new game I’m working on. It’s a classic, old-school, party-based RPG for PC.

Inspiration:
The game is a classic western RPG inspired by the games from the 90s. Basically, it’s the kind of game I personally find missing nowadays. Light, fairy tale, epic, heroic and slightly humorous. One that does not take tons of hours to complete or require endless grind to progress. Something that caters to players like me who don’t have 40 hours to beat one game but still like to play and have a sort of nostalgia for the way games were made in the old days.

It was inspired by Dungeon Master, Eye of The Beholder 2, Might & Magic 3-5, Crystals of Arborea (a not so well known prequel to Ishar series), GoldBox series (Champions of Krynn, Dark Queen of Krynn, etc).

Mechanics:
Mechanically it’s 100% turn based (so you can go and make tea in the middle of a fight) with grid movement and 90 degree rotation. All this very fast paced, both combat and travel is really fast. The goal was to cut down the boring parts and flesh out the fun parts. Also, there is no loading screen when changing locations or other slowdowns 🙂
Overall, the mechanics are pretty traditional and straightforward with modern additions like equipment encumbrance system.

World and Storyline:
Storyline is a fairy tale, mythical heroic fantasy. You are the good guys on a quest to fight the forces of evil (no moral choices). The world is non linear, with very few locked areas. You basically can go anywhere and do things in different order. In addition you can choose a different set of quests to finish the game (but those are not mutually exclusive, so you can finish all quests if you like). It’s more like a world driven than a story driven. The priority was to make the world feel alive and let you explore it as you wish than follow a linear list of quests.

The game starts when the royal wizard finds out about an old crown that belonged to the royal family since generations. Yet, strangely no one ever heard about the crown and there was just a single mention of it in the royal annals. Upon further study he discovered that there has been cast a powerful spell of forgetfulness of unknown origin which caused everyone in the whole land to forget the crown ever existed. Without knowing who or why went into such trouble to conceal the existence of the crown he decided to investigate it. He summoned a party of noble heroes and tasked them with finding whereabouts of the mysterious crown and the origin of the spell.

July version includes a lot of behind the scenes work, most of it won’t be noticeable since it affects small & rare glitches and make internal mechanics more logical and consistent. In addition a bunch of interface improvements, especially the long requested sorted battle reports.

– [misc] Automated fleets now behave more like manual ones in terms on when those make decisions and move. So those will enter the battle instantly (like manual ones) but will react slower to the operational situation (like retaking planets) since they no longer can see what AI will do next.

– [interface] List of battles sorted. At the top space battles you lost, then stalemates, then won space battles. At the very bottom ground battles (sorted by invasion progress).
– [interface] ESCAPE key closes the current screen, only when nothing is open it opens/closes quick menu.
– [interface] Tractor Beams explanation added to Fleet/Shipyard context help.
– [interface] Ships in reserve count added to Fleet/Squadrons.
– [interface] Minerals used for ships production added to Industry report.

– [fix] Excess industrial facilities on some planets. Also improved the facilities building algorithm to make it a bit more intelligent.

Standardization of Office and Design rooms list of cars. Several people got confused how it works, and indeed, listing all the cars, not only the ones under design, makes more sense. So, it was changed. Translation finished (now the game supports fully EN, DE, FR, RU, PL).

– [feature] Added list of existing cars (not under development) to the Design room list of cars. Also added “Archive car” button to Design screen. This was made to avoid confusion and to standardize Office and Design rooms behaviour.

June version focuses on survivability of Parasites. I got reports that Parasites were getting extinct before the player had the chance to deal with them, especially on higher difficulty levels, which was not fun. So, in this version Parasites got “mind control waves” affecting primitive organisms which makes The Have afraid to even approach Parasites controlled planets. Also they got better planetary defences which makes their homeworld harder to crack by civilized races. During tests Parasites were able to survive in most cases (still their survival is not guaranteed, but even if they did extinct it was happening much later). In addition there are traditional fixes and interface improvements.

– [feature] Parasites got unique ships (before those were shared with The Hive). If you play from the old save they will have the old style ships initially but they will replace those with the new ones.

May version finishes the experimental Empress option (mostly added the alternative graphics) and moves it to regular features. In addition traditional bug fixes and interface improvements.

– [feature] Emperor’s sex moved from experimental to regular features.

– [interface] Added summary of courtiers to the Empire/Summary tab (technically not as important as officers/governors screen, but I suppose some players might find use for it, plus it’s kind of consistent to have all 3 groups of imperial officials listed).
– [interface] Added images for Empress option.

– [fix] Admiral reporting “retake planet” listing wrong planet name.
– [fix] One combat icon not being displayed (no one noticed or reported it because no one knew it should be there :D).